Like I said, quick and simple. I assume several things of the user; knowing how to model objects, selecting polygons, and using Lightwave's interface in general being among them. If you have a basic idea on how to use Lightwave, you can probably follow this tutorial.
Please take note: this tutorial is far from comprehensive. It shows only how to map one surface in a very basic manner. Full mapping of a complex object can be very time consuming and occasionally frustrating.
2. Set one viewport on your screen to 'UV Texture'. (Same box where you choose the perspective of the viewport.)
3. Under the drop down menu where you normally choose that viewports viewing mode, choose 'Load and Image', and load the image you wish to map to the object.
4. [Optional]Open up 'Display Options' (d key or 'Modeler->Options->Display Options'), click the backdrop tab, choose your UV Map viewport from the list at the top, and fiddle with the settings as desired. I use 1024 so that the image doesn't get pixilated.
5. Set your Perspective viewport (if you have one set up - I highly reccomend it) to Texture viewing mode.
6. In Modelers main window, click on the 'Map' tab at the top. Then click the 'New UV Map' button under the Texture section (just beyond half way down).
7. Give your UV map a name, and uncheck the 'Initial Value' checkbox (otherwise Lightwave will try to set up the map for you). If you don't uncheck the box, you can choose how your texture is applied to the surface (the drop down menu 'Map Type') the Axis it uses, and some other setting I'm not going to get into.
8. Remember that surface you set up in preparation to put a UV Map on it? Fire up the Surface Editor, and find that surface. When you have it selected, click the texture button on the color parameter line.
9. Find the 'Projection' drop down box in the window that pops up. Click it, and select 'UV'. Two more dropdown boxes should appear: 'UVMap' and 'Image'. Click the 'UVMap' box, and select the UV Map you made just a second ago. Then, click the 'Image' box and load the image you want to map to the surface.
10. Now, make sure that the polygons that make up the surface that you want to map are selected. In Modelers main window, click the 'Map' tab and then click the 'Make UVs' button under the Texture section. Select the UV Map you create earlier from the dropdown box labeled 'Texture Name'.
At this point you're going to have to look at your UV map and decided which 'Map Type' (the next drop down box) is right for that situation. In my case, I chose Cylindrical. You will also need to choose an Axis for the projection. In my case I chose Y; basically the axis runs lengthwise through my cylindrical model.
11. Blam. You should now see a whole ton of selected polygons in the UV Map viewport, all of which are overlaid a picture of the texture you want to map.
12. This is the easy part. Simply select and drag points around as necessary to get the texture to line up on the surface as desired. Having the Perspective viewport in Texture viewing mode helps in this regard.